Trying to preserve video quality in end result

Hi, my big question is re the problem of quality reduction in the final product, say a disc image. Even though the video is short, just 1/2 hour (no stills), during "processing" it becomes grainier and loses color saturation. Is there no way to keep the video from being compressed? What if you had 5 minutes of video to put on an 8GB DVD? No way to retain full sharpness and color?
I tried dropping the star icon from iMovie onto iDVD's window -- it looked great in Preview, but after making the disc image it is sadly not the same. I had changed the iDVD settings from Best Quality to Best Performance, per suggestions I found here. When I did that it did seem to somewhat increase the pre-burn size-estimate in iDVD -- but nowhere near enough, apparently.
Oh, and there is 57GB free space on the internal start-up HD.
I also tried following instructions to share the video from iMovie using "Full Quality" QT -- that was REALLY terrible - blurry as heck.
I've been coming up against this problem with footage from camera and also from other sources; same problem.
OK, now for full disclosure, I am using iMovie 5.0.2 -- I also have 6.0.3, but kept forgetting to switch. From what I "hear" around here, it does not seem that switching to 6.0.3 will solve my problem. BUT if there are big advantages I would like to do it. Should I just start up 6.0.3 and open the project in that version, or are there other things I need to do first?
thanks.

Hello, Tassia,
I will give it a go.
First, quality of your final product depends on several things. What is the quality of the video you start with? If you have poor quality video footage, say from an old vhs tape, you cannot expect superior quality results.
(However, most vhs footage looks better after being converted to digital format video).
Second, where are you viewing the footage to determine its quality? You cannot judge by just looking at it in iMovie because iMovie's resolution is very low, not what you will get from viewing an iDVD on a TV. It will look darker and fuzzier than on a burned DVD played on TV. Same for disk image file.
You need to burn the project to DVD and then view it on an interlaced standard TV before making a judgment on quality.
For iMovie 6 and DVD, using video footage in DV format ensures a lossless process.
Sharing your iM6 movie as Full Quality QT is also lossless. It may look less sharp when you view it on your computer or in iMovie, but if you export it back to your camcorder, it is as sharp as the original.
Re: iDVD settings...Best Performance is for projects that are less than 60 minutes total content, including menus. Best Quality can be used for the shorter movies also, but it is for content 60 minutes and over, up to 120 minutes. These are for single-layer DVDs. The time limits double if you are burning to dual layer DVDs.
It probably doesn't matter if you are using iM5 vs 6. You should be able to open an iM5 project with iM6. Yes, I would try that.

Similar Messages

Preserving Video Quality?

I am new to video editing and DVD creation so forgive me if I ask incorrectly or am posting in the wrong place. The project I have been "assigned" by my fianceé is to transfer some programs from our HD DVR to DVD after removing commercials. These will NOT be sold, they are for her viewing only.
Anyway, the problem I am running into is that when done, the picture on the TV is cut off or heavily pixelated. What settings and formats should I be using? Is the problem with iMovie08 or iDVD08?
I have been using two processes. Record the video using the EyeTV 250, or to record the video on a SD DVDr and import using Cinematize. Both EyeTV and Cinematize allow exporting in various formats. I then use iMovie08 to edit out the commercials and iDVD08 to make the actual DVD. I know I am going to lose the HD part in the process, but the video on the SD DVD looks just fine with no cutting off/cropping or pixelation. It is only after the iMovie/iDVD process that things seem to go wrong.
I have taken the simple iLife class at the local Apple Store, but it did not go in to DVD burning.
Lastly, an iDVD only question. How do I make a movie that just starts playing when the DVD is inserted? I need no title pages, just play the movie!

Thank you VERY much for your time and patience. If I had known this project was going to require this much attention...
Well, this is what I get as options/results from EyeTV. First, I recorded a few seconds of HD video, then I exported the clip in the following formats from EyeTV and imported them into iMovie08: ("Seems to be readable by iMovie08." indicates that it looks just fine on the MBP display - set to 1440 x 900.)
iMovie - Seems to be readable by iMovie08.
iMovie HD Project - File imports, but there is no clip.
iDVD - Seems to be readable by iMovie08.
MPEG Stream (type 1 or 2) - Not importable, file grayed out.
MPEG Element Stream - Not importable, file grayed out.
Quicktime DV - Seems to be readable by iMovie08.
QT DV 16:9 - Seems to be readable by iMovie08.
QT HDV 720p - Seems to be readable by iMovie08, I also selected the DV NTSC option as a test. There is some noticeable loss of quality on the MBP display.
QT HDV 1080i - Seems to be readable by iMovie08. Looks better than the 720p, but still getting a bit fuzzy.
H.264 - Seems to be readable by iMovie08.
Then I viewed the clips in full screen mode - aack! I burned a DVD and the quality dropped a bit more.
After a few hours of burning and playing, I have learned that the 720p export setting from EyeTV works pretty well into iDVD. Not all the DVD players in the house can play them, but that is another issue. Using Toast to burn from EyeTV looks acceptable on the HD TV, but not the older sets. Not a single iMovie08 test has provided useful results other than failure. I fear that for some reason I will not be able to use iMovie08 for HD video projects, despite the claims to the contrary. If Final Cut Express any better?
Obviously a big part of the problem is going from HD to SD, but that is not the whole story here. iMovie appears to be a problem as well.
Lastly, how on earth do you create a movie in iDVD that just plays when you insert it? For my tests, I do not need themes, and in fact most of the movies I will be creating do not need themes or menus - iMovie08 titles are perfect.

Canon 5DMKII video quality

I'm a newb at video editing... I've been a working stills pro for 18 years.
I went from iMovie to FCE. (you know, baby steps) I convert with MPEG Streamclip to Apple Intermediate codec.
Am I correct that I need to invest in FCP to get better quality video?
I'm not exactly blown away with what I'm getting here.

Nick Holmes wrote:
Your cam records MPEG 4 video at 1920x1080.
Ideally, you should use Final Cut Pro's *Log & Transfer* function from the File menu and transcode > to ProRes.
No, you can't use Log and Transfer.
The problem is your choice of Apple Intermediate Codec but with FCE you've got no choice. I've done side by side comparisons using Apple Intermediate Codec, ProRes 422 (LT), ProRes 422, and ProRes 422 (HQ) using files from the Canon PowerShot SX1 (same format files - just a different camera with lower video quality). My results show that there is no advantage of using ProRes 422 (HQ) over ProRes, but some advantage to using ProRes 422 over ProRes 422 (LT). The biggest advantage? Using any sort of ProRes over Apple Intermediate Codec.
So in short, you'd benefit from moving up to FCP mainly because of ProRes if nothing else. If you're interested I could post my side-by-side comparisons of the codecs so you could see exactly how much quality you'd be gaining or losing.

I am trying to get a good copy of my home video on DVD using IDVD. On editing the video all the viewing screens show the video perfectly in HD. When I burn the video to DVD all the end results are buzzy with squiggly lines. Any fix? Thanks?

I am trying to get a good copy of my home video on DVD using IDVD. On editing the video all the viewing screens show the video perfectly in HD. When I burn the video to DVD all the end results are buzzy with squiggly lines. Any fix? Thanks?

Hi
There are several layers to this Q
A. There are no HD in DVD - DVD is as standard only SD-Video what ever tools used to produce it !
iDVD or DVD-Studio Pro or Roxio Toast™ - will only make SD-Video on DVD
B. DVD can be better or worse
• Using "Share to iDVD" is no good way - Better is Share to Media Browser and as Large (NOT HD as result will be worse)
• Using iMovie'08 or 09 or 11 - are not tools to chose if highes quality is of importance - iMovie up to HD6 or FinalCut any version is far better as they send over all lines to iDVD and not only every second one.
• Using Right encoder quality depending on movie and Manu duration is very important
• Use of high quality brand of DVD - is important - I use Verbatim DVD-R
• Type of DVD - DVD-R plays on more DVD-Players (even old ones)
• Burn speed - I set it down to x4 - resulting in less burn errors - plays on more players
• I secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-Up Mac OS hard disk as iDVD and Mac OS needs this and it can not be taked from other hard disks - has to be here.
• What You feed iDVD does matter
Video codecs
Audio file formats
Photo file formats
Yours Bengt W

PE 12 Video Quality - does it have to be so difficult to get good results

I downloaded PE11 trial before PE12 was released, which has since expired, but I have been monitoring this forum to see how PE12 is doing. I am also trying other editors.
A common problem theme I see here for PE is the video quality. With auto settings, so many people are posting that the quality is terrible. There are suggestions on how to improve quality, but they seem to be very intrusive and time consuming, using other apps to 'prepare' media before bringing into PE. This add lots of time to ones workflow, especially when trying to simply import some assets, and burn a DVD or create a file.
It just seems to me that it shouldn't have to be that hard. Many other editors can look into properties of the imported assets and render with fine quality. Why can't PE be that easy...or am I expecting too much?

jmklein
Thank you for taking the time to expand on your original comments.
No two situations are alike. And, as I always write, problems with the same symptoms can (often do) have different causes.
I think that you need to zero in on your specific computer environment and your installation of Premiere Elements in order to make some headway into finding the reason for what you are seeing working in your Premiere Elements in your specific computer environment. Besides settings and the like, there are expectations that may not be consistent with the format resolution and the size of the viewer screen.
You did not answer my question about your target format. But, from what you wrote, I am assuming that you are addressing yourself to DVD-VIDEO on DVD disc and not AVCHD on DVD or Blu-ray disc format on Blu-ray disc. I get good results with any of the three with Premiere Elements in my Windows computer environment.
But, after weigning all factors, you feel that you want to be heard by Adobe, then I would suggest that you contact Adobe directly or through the Adobe Feature Request/Bug Report Form
https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform
I do not work for Adobe and am not affiliated with it in any way; consequently, my comments are non promotional and are based on many years of working hands on with the versions on my computer at home and helping others with this type of problem.
Wishing you success in whatever your decision is on video editing software. If Windows Live Movie Maker works for you, then go with that to as far as its feature set can take you.
ATR

What are the best settings for video compression if my end result is for use as progressive .flv

What are the best settings for video compression if my end result is for use as progressive .flv.?
Thanks,
KIM

Use the Final Cut Studio forum
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=939

I used to export cut clips to tape but recently - to keep having the exact same video-quality as the (analog) source! - I export simply to external HDs (so, to the computer)... I recently bought the PREM 13-verssion and I have tried (I think) éverything b

I used to export cut clips to tape (version 9.0) but recently I bought the 13.0 version of PREMIERE and - to keep having the exàct same video-quality as the (analog) source! - I export simply to external HDs (so, actually to the computer)... but whatever I am trying I notice that when I check the export-material with the original clip the first is NOT ONLY SMALLER but ALSO DOES NOT SEEM TO HAVE THE SAME RESOLUTION, DETAILNESS, SHARPNESS (or whatever you may call it)... What am I doing wrong? WHICH SETTINGS DO I HAVE TO MAKE IN ORDER TO KEEP THE SAME IMAGE-QUALITY (or even to enhance it) IN STORING ON THE COMPUTER ?! Thanks, RVH

How are you exporting?

ZEN (Video Quality)

ZEN (Video Quality)? hello
a while back i stated how crappy videos looked after the conversion to .avi
doesnt seem to matter where the video came from, either a straight up rip from DVD or videos from youtube.
they all looked very pixeled, especially during night/dark scenes.
i?wanted my videos to look like the preloaded videos that came with the ZEN when you first buy it.
thoses videos look amazing! crystal clear!? even during dark scenes.
i've tried all kinds of programs/free trails! spend many days/nights... NOTHING!
why does?Creative?give you these beautiful videos, yet theres no way to?replicate that?
the software that comes with the ZEN, horrific!
everyone says the ZEN doesnt have enough power, the LCD cant produce good blacks.... blah blah blah
it can!!!
i downloaded some movie trailers from a website (hd-trailers.net), converted using BADAK, and WOW!? crystal clear! beatiful!
dark scenes look fantastic!
so i guess the problem is the source, convert HD to avi to ZEN, great results!? DVD to avi to ZEN, not so great. (vhs quality)
does anyone know why? Creative?

The video quality of the Zen is fine. The hardware is fully capable of a high quality 24-bit 320x240 30fps 44.k Hz stereo clips (although 5fps looks just about as good). The quality and configurability of the bundled video conversion application is the object at issue. The solution is to use something else that is both faster and more capable.
The fact a highly capable video encoder is freely available as open source software (MEncoder, which is part of the MPlayer package) leaves little reason to use the Creative software for this task if you want decent conversions. For people intimidated by command line tools there is BADAK (a gui front end for MEncoder). When you select options in BADAK it even shows you the real command it will be issuing to MEncoder. However, since BADAK doesn't expose everything possible, if you really want control over the conversion you'll have to learn to use MEncoder (at least once to set up a batch command that uses your preferred settings) or some other tool.
There is nothing intrinsically better about a HD movie clip. If you have a similarly "clean" SD clip it should convert just as well. The issue here is that the HD clip is simply better source material than the video from a DVD or "captured" YouTube video (which brings up certain ethical concerns).
DVDs and YouTube videos have already gone through at least one pass of lossy compression. Noise and artifacts have already been introduced. Compressing them another time will only aggravate the situation. For that matter, if the artifacts are bad enough at the beginning the encoder may fully decide they are "significant detail elements" and try its best to preserve them in all their glory. Overly aggressi've compression will only make a bad situation worse. Areas that developed blockiness the first time around will probably be extended further. Camera pans over areas that developed banding will help make them jump out. All these problems come from making unwise compression choices for the source material. Even so, most middle-road compression settings are fine if you're watching the video at a reasonable distance from your eyes. If you're holding the player inches away then, sure, you're going to see them. The only way not to see them is to make them not exist.
The Zen screen resolution is approx half the size of a standard SD video frame. If you convert a DVD file to AVI where you ONLY perform the requisite scaling to 320x240 it should look nearly identical to the DVD. It will also be a very large file. That is the relationship: high quality = huge file, low quality = smaller file with artifacts. That isn't a uni'versal truth but does cover 95%+ of pragmatic reality.
Adapti've encoding tries to be "smart" and use extra encoding bits where they are needed most (in detail scenes) and skimp in places they are not (dark scenes where you can hardly see things anyways and areas of pretty uniform color). It is more complicated than that but that is good enough for this discussion. If the encoder strips too many bits from dark scenes on a somewhat "noisy" background it will collapse things too far and you'll get harsh banding. The OP is mostly complaining about harsh banding.
The solution is to prevent the encoder from overly compressing these areas. The simplest way to do that is to use adapti've algorithms but tell it you don't care so much if the file gets bigger. If you still see problems you may have to tell it to use an adapti've algorithm with at least a specified bit rate. If that doesn't really catch it you may have to tell it to use a constant bit rate (which could negati'vely impact scenes that really could use more encoding bits for details). And if that doesn't work you may actually have to tell it specifically what it should do for specified frames of the video. That last is basically a very intrusi've "use human guidance" approach. But if the quality matters that much it is sometimes necessary. That kind of attention is usually reserved for "masters" (like the original master for that DVD you started with).
What you won't find is a single button push, one-size-fits-all conversion that consistently produces ideal results regardless of input. It takes some work and often trial-and-error attempts to find what works best. If you think you're willing to put in that effort them look up the MEncoder documentation (it is available as HTML on the internet) and be amazed by the sheer number of parameters and parameter values it supports. None of them are fluff. They all serve a purpose in real-world situations. Coming up with the proper combination for a given source is the fun part.
Believe it or not, I actually tried to keep this relati'vely brief and avoid excessi've jargon. It's at least my third attempt at a cogent response that probably wouldn't make the reader get defensi've. We'll see how it goes.

MacMini - LG 32" (32LB75) Problem - Poor video quality and now no picture.

Hi there, apologies for the length of this post....
I purchased a mac mini 1.8Ghz with 2Gb RAM yesterday with a wireless keyboard and mouse and hooked it up to my 32" LG 32LB75 using VGA. On startup the display looked ok, I managed to click through the various Leopard initialisations. I bought the machine for use as a front room media player for mainly DivX movies and the occasional bit of music.
Once I had installed the DivX codec I opened a DivX file in Quicktime and selected "full screen mode." As soon as the movie started I became quite disappointed. The picture quality was quite pixelated ("noisy") and certainly not as good as when I play the same movie file from my old dell PC on the same LG tv (the dell PC has a 64Mb PCI radeon 7000 which connects to the tv using the same VGA port as the mac).
Anyway just to give the mac a fair go I thought I would try out some genuine quicktime video samples from the itunes store (this time viewed from front row)....again not brilliant.
So I thought I would investigate the screen resolution to see if I could improve things. It appeared the resolution was set to 1900 by 1200ish I say "ish" because I can't remember exactly. I then attempted to reduce the resolution and eventually I settled on one that looked quite clear with the font size big enough to be easily read. Again I tried the movie and there wasn't much (if any improvement). Whilst changing resolutions the screen would go blank for a few seconds but on one particular setting (can't remember exact numbers) the display went blank and never came back. The tv now just displays "no signal".
I despaired and connected the mac to a 17" Iiyama montior that I use with a PC and it worked ok. However each time I tried to "hot swap" back to the television I would end up with no picture.
I'm really disappointed because everything else about the mac I really like. Particularly the remote for frontrow which is precisely what I wanted it for. The problem is I've spent over £500 and now seem to have a lesser quality picture than I had to begin with (ignoring for the moment that I don't have any picture!!)
Anyway my questions are these, answers to any or all most appreciated.
1) what is the easiest way to get my mini to start displaying on my tv again?
2) what would the optimum resolution be? My television mentions 1366 x 768 in the manual
3) If the mini doesn't offer this resolution in the pick list is it advisable to "force it" using some alternative software (ie 3dexpress.de)?
4) Is the video quality affected by the software player? ie would VLC give better picture with DivX over quicktime/itunes/front row?
5) How likely is it that the video resolution of my new mac mini isn't "as good" as my old dell machine with its PCI graphics card?
6) Finally if I don't get results as good as my existing PC setup, how accomodating are apple with refunds? I bought it from a UK high-street apple store. The back of the receipt mentions a "14 day not satisfied" return policy but then goes on to say something about being "unopened"...which seems a little confusing. Ie how do you know if you're satisfied until you've actually used it?

Hi there
the solution was to remove the various display config files in leopard and then restart the machine, this got my display back on the tv (albeit off centre). To fix the "off centre issue" I used the LG "auto correct" feature from the remote control "menu > screen" options.
The apple support site describes how to remove the affected leopard display files here http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2213?viewlocale=en_US As you will see their resolution consists of 2 main steps, the first one involves starting your machine in safe mode, if this doesn't work then you proceed to the second step where you remove the files using a terminal prompt.
I didn't bother with the first step mainly because I don't think I can start my mac in safe mode since my only keyboard is wireless (bluetooth). So I connected the mac mini to a 17" LCD monitor (which thankfully did display the video signal ok) and removed all the listed files using terminal. I then shut the mac down, swapped the VGA cable back to the LCD tv restarted the mac and it detected the tv and set a resolution that worked. I then very carefully reduced the resolution down to one that was recommended by my tv (1300ish.. x 768ish??).
At this point I was back to having an acceptable signal but still a little off centre. So I used the TV remote, pressed menu, went into screen options and chose "auto correct". Picture then filled the screen perfectly.
The problem seems to be, leopard lists a bunch of resolutions that it believes your tv/display can handle but it would appear that in fact some of these resolutions are not supported by your TV and if you choose one of these your signal disappears and you can't get it back.
I would still say that I'm not 100% convinced with the mac mini's onboard graphics (I have a 1.8GHz version). I'm going to download some HD content and see if that improves things, but certainly my existing DivX collection looked a little sharper and clearer and better coloured using my old dell PC with its radeon PCI card. But the difference in picture quality is outweighed by the convenience of its size and the font row interface. I might tinker with putting Windows Media Center on it one day, perhaps that might improve things.

Publish+Share signifcantly reduces video quality in Premiere Elements 13

As the title states, whenever I publish and share a video in Premiere Elements 13, the video quality is drastically reduced to an almost unwatchable level compared to the original video This is even the case before any effects are added to the video. If I add the media to the timeline and then directly publish+share before any changes are done, the video quality is still ruined. When I click play full screen in elements, the quality and resolution is exactly where I want it, but once again, when I share the video, it's essentially destroyed.
When I play the newly created video there is giant black space above, below and to the sides of the video (where there is none in the original) and movement in the movie causes the video to grain with black lines.
I have been playing around with settings and researching online for a long time now but I can't seem to find the solution. What I have been doing is going publish+share, ---> Computer, ---> AVI. Then in advanced settings the video codec is selected to DV NTSC, and the basic video settings which are locked in (which I can't change) are set to quality 100, width 720, height 480. The Aspect is D1/DV NTSC (0.9091). I have selected render at maximum depth. I have also tried saving it as MPEG and other video types but the result is the same.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I understand that I am new and have lots to learn, but it seams so strange to me that the simple process of putting a video in Elements would essentially destroy it. Thanks again.

HSTompson
It was not until Mary Lou Frost posted in your thread today that I realized that I did not see and reply to your questions in post 4 of your thread (dated December 15, 2014). Sorry about that.
If you want to match up the properties of the export file with the properties of the Timeline source media, often you need to direct your attention to
a. Publish+Share/Computer/......and trying to match up the video (especially) and audio compressions of the import with those of the export choice.
b. A frequent cause of a difference between import file size and export file size is the bitrate used by these files. The higher the bitrate, the greater the quality, but
the larger is the file size. So, trying to match import file and export file bitrates is also on the agenda. See the preset's Advanced Button/Video Tab and the settings
there for bitrate. The units for bitrate will be either kbps kilobits per second (also seen as Kbps) or Mbps megabits per second. We can go into that further if necessary.
Premiere Elements allows for the setting of one project preset which should match the properties of the source files. If you have "mixed source files", setting up the
project can become a challenge. The rule of thumb that I typically use involves setting priorities...
1. If videos and stills, I will set for the properties of the video and then size (or let the project size) the still to the frame size of the video
2. If just stills, I try for 1920 x 1080 stills and import them using a DLSR 1080p project preset...that seems to give sharper end product results when doing burn to disc.
Please review and consider and let me know if I have targeted your questions. Any questions please do not hesitate to ask. I try to respond daily to questions, so, if you do not see a timely, response, please send me an Adobe Forum private message asking me "What happened to you?".
Best wishes.
ATR

Bad video quality of final product when viewing on computer in full screen

It looks like a picture does when you blow it up and it's a low quality image. Everything I'm reading says the problem would be with the video capture...but I have the same bad quality when I'm viewing the menu! Around all the text on the menu, it's fuzzy and same with my video on the menu. So are my video clips in the movie itself.
I have tried playing it on Windows Media Player, the apple DVD program, and WinDVD and I get the same problem when I view it on full screen.
I assume my family will mostly be playing it on a TV. Do you think it will play properly or worse on a TV? I don't actually have a DVD player myself to test it out. Any suggestions on why this could be happening?
Thanks!

when I started using iDVD, one of the hardest adjustments for me to make was video quality on TV screen vs on computer screen. (I am used to satellite to S-Video TV and HD screens on my computer.)
My camera it a miniDV, and playback via SVideo to an Svideo TV screen is awesome.
I was sorely disappointed when I played the same tape back on the computer. It was grainy/fuzzy, etc. Same with the DVD I made.
But when I played the DVD back on the TV, the image quality was the same as when I connected the camera to the TV - crisp, sharp, video and text.
I've since burned numerous DVDs, and the result is always the same - blah on the computer, sharp on the TV.
As someone else in this thread stated, the average TV is low-res compared to the computer screen.
If I recall the spec correctly, standard NTSC is 240 line, SVideo is up to 500 line. HD is 720 line and higher...ergo an NTSC source is roughly 1/2 the resolution of the typical CPU screen, or 1/3 the resolution of low end HD screens. So yes, NTSC output on your computer screen will always be fuzzy compared to your TV screen.
I think you will likely be very pleased with the DVD when you playback on your TV.

Video quality with flv component

Hi,
I'm trying to improve the reproduction of a video incorporated into a website. The original .mov was 60 MB at 1280 x 720px. Using the Adobe media encoder I converted to FLV ( to add cue points for several small mc animations) and reduced dimensions to obtain filesize of 12MB. Video was brought into the SWF with the flv component. File loads quickly enough online- not too much in the way of delays waiting for video to start etc, however the reproduction is a little jumpy in several places and a little out of sync. I'm wondering if this is completely a result of the conversion process or whether the flv component might also be struggling with this filesize. I believe there is a FLVPlayback 2.5 component I released after my flash version CS4. Could anyone advise if I would gain improvements in the reproduction if I used this instead ?
Also - throughout the video I appear to have gained what looks like borders around the video, but only on the left and right sides, not all the way around (see screenshot). I'm not entirely sure whether this is a result of the conversion process with the adobe media encoder or whether this is something which has resulted within the flash file. And also on the last frame, the background colour of the video is completely strange. I had set to match the webpage, however as you can see in the screenshot attached, there's a strange graduation in colour that simply does not make sense to me - I would very much like to resolve as it looks very unprofesional.
Grateful for any assistance with any of the above issues
Thanks so much in advance !

On your first point of quality and file size, they are really un-related. Only when you concider the video bitrate and display dimensions can you judge whether a particular file size will result in a good quality or poor quality video. The FLV Playback component really does not affect the quality one way or another.. it only displays what it's told to display. If you have other issues like
"however the reproduction is a little jumpy in several places and a little out of sync"
it's more likely that something was introduced during the conversion process.
But first, a little review of video bitrate:
Video bit rate
One of the principle of goal setting is to "Begin with the end in mind". In this case it'll be very hard to give good recommendations because the end is not defined. So I'll just make a few assumptions and you can correct me as needed.
First, I'll assume that since you are converting to Flash, you want to deliver this video over the Internet. If that's true, then we'll have to make some assumptions on the Internet connection download speeds of your potential viewers. Let's just say that most have at least a 1.5Mb connection or faster.
OK, that would mean that a video bitrate of half that should usually provide a video download that is not interupped by buffering (most of the time anyway). So assuming a video bitrate of 750kbps, what would the optimum display dimensions be?
Before we decide, here's a little info about bitrate. For highest quality playback, the video bitrate is tied directly to the display dimensions. That is, the larger the display, the more incoming data is required to properly display the video. Think of bitrate in terms of a can of paint. If you have 1 quart of paint, you might be able to do a very nice job on a 32 X 24 foot area. But if you try to stretch that same amount of paint out over a 64 X 48 foot area, the coverage will not be nearly as good and you get poor results.
In the same way, a video displayed at 640 X 480 pixels will require 4 times the bitrate as a video displayed at 320 X 240 pixels to produce the same quality. So for example a video with a bitrate of 100kbps, displayed at 160 X 120 will produce the same quality results as a video with a bitrate of 1600kbps if displayed at 640 X 480.
So to boil it all down, video bitrates of 750kbps, even up to 1000kbps can usually get delivered of the Internet on most high speed connections. Higher bit rates may work for really fast connections but will cause problems for viewers with slower connections. Video display size has a direct bearing on the final quality. In the 750 to 1000kbps range, display size should be kept around 450 or 500 width max (and whatever height the aspect ratio calls for). Yes it can be displayed larger, but the quality will suffer.
Sound like your audio settings are fine, especially for Internet delivery.
As for framerate, maintain the original raw video framerate for best results. So if the video was shot at 24fps, leave it.
As for video converters, do you have the Flash 8 Video Converter? It works just fine for video to be delivered over the Internet. Remember, you are taking a Cadillac version of video (h.264 HD) and stuffing it into a Chevy body to get it to work over the Internet.
As for slight borders in the display, it's most likely that somewhere in the conversion process or setting the dimensions of the FLVPlayback that the display/video dimensions got mismatched... even by a few pixels. So video is 480 x 360 while FLVPlayback is 480 x 356 or something like that. There is also the possibility that the FLVPlayback is trying to maintain the correct aspect ratio but the dimension is just a little off. So if the display is a little too short for the width, you could get black bars on either side. If the display is a little too narrow for the height, you will get black bars top and bottom.
So play with the display dimensions and see if you can correct it. If you can't, it may be in the video itself... test in another, FLV video player.
Best of luck on your project!
Adninjastrator

When I Burn to DVD I get poor video quality.

I need help with all the steps to ensure I'm doing this the right way when burning my videos to DVD. Here is a list of all my equipment and software:
OS -Windows 8
Program - Adobe Premiere Elements 11
System-
Processor- Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4430 CPU @3.00GHz 3.00 GHz
Installed memory (RAM)- 12.0 GB
System Type- 64-bit Operating Sytem, x64- based processor
Video Card- GEFORCE GTX 760 2GB GDDR5
Video Camera- Sony HDR-FX1
Product Type Camcorder- 1080i
Progressive scan- Yes
Camcorder Media Type- Mini DV (HDV)
Digital Video Format- MPEG-2
Image Recording Format- JPEG
I did a sample 10 minute video (with no editing) burned it to DVD and the quality is almost VHS looking when I watch it on a DVD. I've tried many different options and still get the same results. I tried up-ing the DVD space by purchasing a Dual Layer Double Couche DVD+R but came out the same results. I put the settings ( when burning to DVD anywhere from NTSC_Widescreen_Dolby DVD to Just NTSC_Dolby DVD. I have put the Quality to 'Fit Contents to available space' and Highest Quality with no difference to the burned DVD. I've gone to File/New/Project and changed the settings to NTSC-AVCHD-Full HD 1080i 30 and regular HDV 1080i 30 with no change. There are like 15 different options and really don't know what I'm doing wrong. Please HELP me before I go Crazy!
Any help would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Chris

Chris
For your consideration...
1. HDV data capture firewire into Premiere Elements 11 Capture Window.
a. Beforehand, set the project preset manually to NTSC HDV HDV 1080i30 via File Menu/New/Project. Before exiting the new project dialog, make sure you have a check mark after Force Selected Project Settings on This Project. Then go back to the Premiere Elements 11 Expert workspace and Add Media/HDV Camcorder.
or
b. Do your DVD Data capture, let the program set the project preset. Then verify the project preset via Edit Menu/Project Settings/General. Editing Mode should be HDV 1080i, Timebase should be 29.97 frames per second, and frame size should be 1440 x 1080. The pixel aspect ratio (grayed out) should be HD Anamorphic (1.333). Field Order should be shown as Upper Field First. If that is not the case, then start over and set the project preset yourself manually as described above in "1a".
Once you get the MPEG2.mpg on the Timeline, we are going to look at two different situations
a. the DVD-VIDEO results with Right click the video on the Timeline, select Field Options, followed by Reverse Field Dominance.
and
b. the DVD-VIDEO results with Moving forward not doing anything with the Field Options.
Since your source is 16:9, the you want to stay with the DVD-VIDEO widescreen (NTSC_Widescreen Dolby DVD preset in the burn dialog...Publish+Share/Disc/DVD disc)
If you select Publish+Share/Disc/DVD disc you will be viewing DVD-VIDEO widescreen format on DVD disc. The frame size is 720 x 480 and is stretched for display after encoding. As I said no where near 1920 x 1080. My recollection is that it is about 856 x 480. This can be played on the DVD player. Maybe some Blu-ray players if the players specifications provide for that.
If you select Publish+Share/Disc/AVCHD disc, you will be viewing AVCHD format on a DVD disc. You can set the preset for 1920 x 1080 and thus be viewing 1920 x 1080 on that DVD disc. BUT, AVCHD DVD cannot be played on a DVD player. It needs a Blu-ray player. And even all of Blu-ray players may not play it. It also can be played on the computer if you find a computer player to play it.
You mention your end results being pixelated. I am wondering if your pixelation is really an interlaced problem.
Your source is interlaced video with a field order = Upper Field First. The DVD-VIDEO standard calls for field order = Lower Field First. My suggestion above to look at Field Option Reverse Field Dominance goes to that point, reversing the field order. More on that later.
Let us see the results and then decide what next.
If you think you want to go Blu-ray, then we can talk about that too. Do you have any Blu-ray equipment now? For the time being, to get the flavor of the higher resolutions on disc, you could make the comparison of your DVD-VIDEO widescreen on DVD disc versus AVCHD on DVD disc.
Looking forward to your follow up.
ATR
Add On...After all of the above, I forgot to mention. Do your DVD work with a check mark next to "Fit Content to Available Space". The only time you want to leave "Fit Content to Available Space" uncheck is when and if you get a Data Rate error message where you have to lower the bitrate to be able to continue.

FCP Novice needs help with video quality and FCP 5!!

Hi,
I have a real problme that I cannot seem to fix. I think its because I am doing something really wrong!
I have a Sony HC42E MiniDV Camcorder which by default records video in full widescreen. I recorded several tapes this way and have now begun trying to edit them in FCP 5.04 (Tiger 10.4.6). Whenever I log and capture my clips they appear to be fuzzzy and unclear on the Mac monitor whilst being totally crisp and sharp on the camcorder viewfinder. I tried capturing using the DV PAL 48Khz Anamorphic Preset which keeps everything the right size (the final output needs to be true widescreen and not with black bars added) but the resulting video on screen is blurry and bitty. I then tried capturing using the DV PAL 720 x 576 normal preset and the video is a little clearer on the screen (for both presets I have chosen lower field dominance) but when I play back it plays back in widescreen on the mac canvas window but at 4:3 on the camera's viewfinder.
I then assumed that maybe this is just becuase the mac screen (CRT by the way) doesn't use fields. So I exported the sequence as a QT movie using DV PAL 16:9 and used quicktime (OS9 Classic - my compressor has never worked because of the dreaded "unable to connect to baackground process" problem which I've never managed to correct) to convert it to MPEG2. When I import this as an asset into DVD Studio pro 4 and set the track size to 16:9 it comes through at the right aspect ratio. However it looks blurry on screen. Thinking that this will be fine on a TV I burned the disc - inserted it into my DVD player (a good one!) and watched it on my new 32" widescreen TV (a good one!) and the picture qualitty is poor. Its so much blurrier and bittier than the original footage looks when played through the camcorder's viewfinder!
The final footaage looks like an old VHS recording that's a year or two old!
Does anyone know how I can capture my footage in FCP with the maximum quality, edit it without quality loss and the export it for DVD again without such significant quality loss whilst all the time keeping it at proper 16:9 widescreen?
Is there some presets I should be working to?
I'm tearing my hair out! Help!

Hi Guys,
thanx for your replies.
here's the latest:
Brian, I followed your instructions and the DVD burned successfully. However the video quality of the dvd when viewed on my TV ('ve tried on all 3 of my tvs now) is still a lot poorer than the quicktime movie that was imported into DVDSP4. When I play the original QT Movie on my Mac CRT monitor it looks a little blurry and grainy because I guess its non interlaced however when viewed on an external Video monitor it looks great - very sharp.
When I view the burned DVD on my television the picture quality looks like the non interlaced version of the original QT Movie that appeared on my Mac CRT and not the sharp interlaced (lower field) version that appeared on my external video monitor.
Its almost like taking a sharp jpeg into Photoshop and applying a gaussian blur of about 0.3 followed by jepg compression compressing it down to 5% quality!
I'm totally mystified. Can the conversion to Mpeg2 be removing all interlacing so that you get the less sharp computer monitor look? I just want the video on my final DVDs to be as good as the original source footage! I appreciate that along the way there might be loss of some quality but surely not that much?
Does this make sense to you guys or am I still doing something very wrong?
Robert: I have tried setting all manner of drives including a fresh external firewire HD with nothing on it (clean out of the box) but it doesn't seem to help.
Brian: I tried the no network suggestion a few months back but I'm not sure if I got it right. At the moment I have broadband through an external speedtouch usb modem and am also connected (occasionally although not for the last 3 months) via a crossover cable to my PCs ethernet card. When I last tried the No Network solution I had immense trouble getting my internet to work again! Can you please help me by directing me to the best ay to do this while protecting my internet settings?
any more help guys would be greatfully appreciated.

Did Apple fix the video quality issue in iMovie '09?

I am a casual video editor and iMovie 08 had the perfect user experience / functionality for what I want to do.
However, the known video quality issue (throwing away interlaced scan lines) made the result unacceptable since I archive our family video on DVDs. I have been forced to use iMovie HD for that reason. I have tried tricks such as converting the original DV files to AIF and deinterlace prior to import into iMovie08 but that did not seem to work either.
So does anyone know if Apple fixed the video quality issue in iMovie '09.
MESSAGE TO APPLE IF YOU ARE LISTENING:
Please fix the video quality in iMovie09 if not already. Yes, the quality is ok for YouTube or Internet video but for those of us who want simple editing to archive our family video we cannot accept poor video quality. Dropping an interlace field effectively halves the vertical resolution. Thank you.

Please explain this in more detail when you say Adaptive Deinterlacer. Are you talking about another program? If so, what program and what are the specific steps.
Also, sounds like you are recommending imovie09. By saying to do the above, are you saying imovie09 still causes you too loose significant quality like imovie08? Are you saying you can use imovie08 or imovie09 with these steps to get high quality video or just imovie09? I guess I just need more specifics on how you do what you are describing and how imovie09 fits into this versus imovie08. I joined this whole discussion trying to figure out if upgrading imovie09 made a difference regarding the whole quality issue. I know it has more features, but I am more concerned about he quality of the video right now. Thanks.

Trying to preserve video quality in end result

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